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Many other countries have all-inclusive prices. Most of Europe from my experience. I wonder, how do they handle it? One solution could be to price things such t

Many other countries have all-inclusive prices. Most of Europe from my experience. I wonder, how do they handle it? One solution could be to price things such that any amount of tax is included in the margin so the price is standard but profitability varies in minute ways between locations (which it does anyway due to labor, transportation, advertising density, etc.).

Veuxdo 2y ago
> One solution could be to price things such that any amount of tax is included in the margin so the price is standard but profitability varies in minute ways between locations Imagine you have customers in California (high taxes) and Wyoming (low taxes). You have one price, but the taxes in the former nets you zero profit. But, that's also where 98%+ of your customers are. That isn't going to work, needless to say.
- TehCorwiz 2y ago
  The highest sales tax in California that I can find is 10.750% (lowest 7.50%). The highest in Wyoming is 6% (lowest 5%). That's not a wide spread. On many MANY items the existing profit margin is north of 30%, but even leaving that aside. Adding %10 to your base price to have a single price just means that in lower tax markets you're making more money. There's no obvious situation where you make less unless you intentionally under price your products and it eats into your margin.
nemomarx 2y ago
I imagine companies don't have a standard price across all of Europe, so smaller differences within a country are handled more smoothly. You'd still get that benefit in the us by having one price for an entire state but I don't think anyone is eager to lose profits and try that.
- TehCorwiz 2y ago
  But they probably have a standard price across all of, let's say, The Netherlands. How many companies advertise across country lines? Is that a big problem? This feels very much like one of those "it's only a problem in the US" things where other countries have figured it out but Americans keep playing dumb about it.

Veuxdo 2y ago

> One solution could be to price things such that any amount of tax is included in the margin so the price is standard but profitability varies in minute ways between locations Imagine you have customers in California (high taxes) and Wyoming (low taxes). You have one price, but the taxes in the former nets you zero profit. But, that's also where 98%+ of your customers are. That isn't going to work, needless to say.

TehCorwiz 2y ago
The highest sales tax in California that I can find is 10.750% (lowest 7.50%). The highest in Wyoming is 6% (lowest 5%). That's not a wide spread. On many MANY items the existing profit margin is north of 30%, but even leaving that aside. Adding %10 to your base price to have a single price just means that in lower tax markets you're making more money. There's no obvious situation where you make less unless you intentionally under price your products and it eats into your margin.

nemomarx 2y ago

I imagine companies don't have a standard price across all of Europe, so smaller differences within a country are handled more smoothly. You'd still get that benefit in the us by having one price for an entire state but I don't think anyone is eager to lose profits and try that.

TehCorwiz 2y ago
But they probably have a standard price across all of, let's say, The Netherlands. How many companies advertise across country lines? Is that a big problem? This feels very much like one of those "it's only a problem in the US" things where other countries have figured it out but Americans keep playing dumb about it.